This weeks installment is a festive fermented beverage I lovingly refer to as Goji Beer-y. This is the second time I’ve made this drink since returning to Florida. The fermentation is done with vegan kefir grains called Kefir d’ Acqua. I came accross this treat while working out at the Tree of Life in Patagonia, Arizona. Props to Joshua who scored us the first batch of water kefir goodness. Goji Beer-y was almost a reality while out in Arizona but unfortunately Joshua placed his experimental goji berry batch in the oven to ferment assuming that would be a safe enough place in a house full of raw foodists. Unfortunately he didn’t take into account that using the stove top to heat water would raise the temp in oven thus increasing the pressure inside the goji berry brew. Long story short… there was an explosion, goji ferment juice all over the floor and inside the oven. The upside of this story is the RAWthrock house got their oven cleaned to a level beyond all expectations. Once again, thanks to Joshua.

This friendly ferment is great because the process is relatively simple and can be completed with in 72 hours. I made the batch in the video using filtered water, kefir crystals, 1/2 C of raisins and a 3 oz of home made grape preserves. I figured I wasn’t going to use the jelly, I might as well feed it to the kefir. Goji Beer-y is bubbly, slightly bitter with a little goji sweetness. These days it’s my non-alcoholic beer of choice. Details and direction for creating your own kefir ferments can be found at the link above.